To me, this premiership means more than just being number one & winning the competition. I have been through some very tough times in recent years, and the distraction of the games & our discussions on this forum, has kept me going at times.
It was about 3 years ago that my father his started final downhill decline. He had been sick for a number of years, but that last year or so of his life was hell, with constant doctors visits & trips to the hospital (not to mention the at home care I had to provide at times). It was a little under 2 years ago that he passed away.
A few months later we found out that one of my uncles didnât have long left. I hadnât seen him for a while, mostly due to circumstances beyond my control, and with him living about 4-5 hours away it took some planning to get there. I organised some time to see him, but he passed away the week before I could get up to see him. Ironically he had played lower grades for Souths back in the day, and today happens to be the first anniversary of his death.
Just weeks after that, a good mate from work took his own life. No one saw it coming, as he always seemed like the happiest bloke. I guess we never know what people are going through.
A couple of months later, my best mate Jim, who I went to games with, took his own life. It made it incredibly hard to turn up to each home game, but I somehow managed to get there each game until Covid hit. All year I kept thinking to myself âWe have to do it for Jimâ.
Not long after Jimâs death, we heard that another uncle, who also lived about 4-5 hours away, didnât have long left. I had holidays due in August, but something told me not to wait, so I took a week of long service in May. It turned out to be the right decision, as he passed the week before I would have got there if I had waited, and Covid would have stopped me getting there anyway.
When the siren sounded last night, I had a tear in my eye as I thought to myself âWe did it for Jim.â
After all the struggles of the last few years, this was my reward for continuing to put one foot in front of the other, no matter how difficult it was.
Thank you to the team for their effort to bring home the trophy. Thank you also to all the mates who have helped me through.
And finally thank you to everyone on this forum. Letâs enjoy our premiership.
letâs just say after the elimination final I was shouting 86,86,86 as loud as a drunken fool could
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